2018 Runoff Voter Guide: What Races Are up in the Air and Who Are Those People on the Ballot?

The Tuesday, July 17, runoff elections may be quieter races than were in the June elections, but that doesn’t make the outcome any less important.

Up for grabs in this round of voting are Republican nominations for lieutenant governor, attorney general, an associate justiceship on the Supreme Court and judgeships on the state civil and criminal appeal courts.

There are no Democrats running for the Supreme Court Place 1 seat, either courts of appeal, or the agriculture and industries commissioner’s job. That means that whoever wins the Republican nomination in those races is almost assured of winning the office in November.

There are no Democrats in statewide races in the runoff.

In Jefferson County, there are only the statewide races still undecided on the Republican side.

But there are several local Democratic races on the ballot, including two District Court seats. In one of those races, for the district 9 seat, there are no Republicans running in November

There also are runoffs in the races for the Circuit Court and Sheriff’s seat.

Jefferson County Democratic voters also will be picking nominees for two County Commission seats, in District 1 and 2. Winning those nominations also is tantamount to winning the races, since there is not a Republican running in November.

Some Jefferson County Democrats also will vote in the House District 54 race.

BirminghamWatch has produced this Voter Guide to help Jefferson and Shelby voters. In the guide, produced in collaboration with Starnes Media, publisher of Cahaba Sun, and WBHM, you’ll find lists of candidates on the ballot and their profiles, which include basic information about each of the candidates such as the top contributors to their campaigns, the main issues they’re citing in their campaigns and links to their web or social media sites.

It also has sample ballots for Jefferson and Shelby counties, which also link to the profiles.

The toolkit has information about the process of voting, what you’ll need at the polls, what to do if you suspect trouble and what the new no crossover voting rule means for the July 17 runoffs.